Zimbabwean foreign minister dies of COVID-19

Sibusiso Moyo, Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister, has died from COVID-19 complications.

This comes five days after Ellen Gwaradzimba, the country’s Manicaland provincial affairs and devolution minister, reportedly died of COVID-19.

Gwaradzimba is said to have died at a hospital in Harare on Friday.

The late Moyo is the third Zimbabwean minister to succumb to COVID-19 since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020.

Perrance Shiri, minister of agriculture, also died from coronavirus complications in July 2020.

George Charamba, acting chief secretary to the president, who broke the news, said Moyo died a day after testing positive for the virus.

“He succumbed to COVID-19 at a local hospital,” Charamba said.

The deceased became famous as the face of the military operation that ousted late ex-President Robert Mugabe from power in a 2017 coup.

He was then appointed as the foreign affairs minister after President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power.

As a result of the spike in COVID-19 cases, the Zimbabwean government reintroduced a 12-hour dusk-to-dawn curfew to contain the spread of the virus, and address the disregard of lockdown regulations.

As of January 20, the country has confirmed 28,675 infections, out of which 825 deaths have been recorded.